• Read more about Mobomo Mobisphere Roundup -- May 24, 2010

There's been yet another "leak" of a possible prototype of the 4th-gen Apple iPhone. A photo (above) shows both a black and a white phone with larger screens. Given all the rumors and SDK evidence, it seems obvious that the OS 4 iPhone will have video calling and the larger screen resolution necessary to pull that off.

Fortunately, in just 2 weeks, all the speculation will be put to rest when Apple's 5-day WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) kicks off on Jun 7th. Steve Jobs will start the event off with a keynote address to over 5,000 developers at the sold-out event. There's an email circulating around the Web that's supposedly from Jobs telling someone that "you won't be disappointed," in reference to what he's probably planning to announce at the conference. I.e., probably the new iPhone, other features of the new SDK, and a mention of the countries where the iPad will by then be available.

What Jobs might not know is the new but celebrated iPad hasn't only been banned in some countries but also in New York's Yankee Stadium of all places. Apparently the stadium's security policy considers the iPad to be in the laptop category, and laptops are not allowed in the stadium.

Has anyone told Yankee Stadium security that even the TSA (Transportation Safety Authority) differentiates between iPads and laptops? That's actually a very disappointing fact. If more venues ban iPads, then carrying a tablet computer around might not become a common practice. I carry my iPad with me wherever I go, almost without fail. Now if I'm driving, I could always leave my iPad hidden somewhere, but if I'm walking or taking public transit -- which is very likely in New York -- then what am I supposed to do with it? Considering London will have full Wi-Fi access for the 20102 Olympics, I'm guessing they won't be banning the iPad at venues there. Well, given that many Apple stores are sold out of the iPad, especially the 3G model, I'm guessing not a lot of people are going to be worried about this sort of ban, at least for now.

Is Apple stealing the market? Google announced last week that they were shutting down their online store and now Nokia is closing their flagship New York store. The Chicago store, on the other hand, is not closing. Wait a minute; doesn't New York have a larger population than Chicago? Wouldn't it make more sense to do the closing the other way around?

AT&T just got the Palm Pre Plus, but they're charging $150 for it despite Verizon's lower price. However, if you're a new AT&T customer, you can get the phone for $50, but without the free Palm Touchstone charging dock. AT&T's Pixi Plus will be available Jun 6th, to join the new AT&T Palm Pre Plus. The free Touchstone charge deal doesn't apply to the Pixi Plus [Engadget]. If you get any smartphone from AT&T, be forewarned that they've increased the early termination fee from $175 to $325, effective Jun 1st -- whether you're a new subscriber or renewing your service.

The U.S. FTC finally approved Google's purchase of mobile ad network AdMob Inc. While it took them six months to approve, the decision was partly to do with Apple's own purchase of ad network Quattro Wireless. If I'm not mistaken, Apple's purchase will result in their iAd network, announced at the same event earlier this year where Steve Jobs revealed some of the features that iPhone OS 4 would have.

The iPad might have a very long lasting battery but most smartphones seem to fizzle out in just a couple of hours of use. For example, the Palm Pre Plus I bought for it's Mobile Hotspot feature (to power my WiFi-only iPad), has a battery that dies long, long before the iPad. But Google's Larry Page recently said that if your Android-powered device isn't lasting a day, there's something wrong with your apps.

• Read more about Mobomo Mobisphere Roundup -- May 21, 2010

This is a stream-of-consciousness roundup of news in the mobile platform space from the past week. It covers Apple, Palm, Android and the mobile platform in general.

iPad sales in 2010 in the U.S. might hit 8M units, up from a previous estimate of 5M units [MacRumors]. Obviously, the international release is going to play a big factor in this, but at least iPad apps are now available internationally [Engadget]. Tablet devices in general could go from 7.6M units in 2010 to 46M units in 2014, according to IDC research [IDC]. To qualify as a "tablet" in IDC's research, a mobile device must have a 7-12 inches in diagonal screen size and have no physical keyboard. IDC compares that figure to the nearly 400M portable PCs that they expect will ship in 2014. Also noteworthy is that while U.S. Mac sales were up nearly 40% [Fortune] in April 2010, iPads are outselling Macs [All Things Digital], are nearing iPhone sales levels, and are taking away iPod sales [Silicon Alley Insider].

iPad and general tablet device sales might be up, but DisplaySearch says that 376M touchscreen phones shipped in 2009 [Mobile Entertainment News]. Gartner Research says that mobile phone sales worldwide grew 17% in just Q1 2010 [Gartner]. With this rapid sales growth, it's a bit refreshing to know that an extensive study does not conclusively tie cell phones to cancer [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]. Though unfortunately that doesn't mean they don't [Mobile Burn]

The number of Android-powered devices that Google is activating daily has increased from 30,000 last year to 100,000 now [TechCrunch]. Other news: there are now over 50K apps in the Android Marketplace, and with Google officially announcing Android 2.2 (Froyo) [MobileCrunch], that will increase. A couple of welcome changes with 2.2 include Internet tethering for carriers that choose to support it, and the ability to install apps on the SD card [PC World]. Google's Android 3, aka Gingerbread, will be released in Q4 2010 [MobileBurn], thought it might actually be numbered as 2.3 or 2.5.

Adobe has revealed Flash 10.1 for Android-based mobile devices [Mashable], with the intent of showing Steve Jobs he's wrong, that Flash can work smoothly on mobile phones [BusinessWeek]. Jobs' issues with Flash is that it's slow, power hungry, not touchscreen-enabled, and would cause mobile apps to crash. Now if they succeed in proving their point, and Jobs' does rescind his ban, it still might be a year before iPhone OS devices get Flash, if ever. (Rumor is that Apple Mac computers will also stop supporting Adobe Flash, which is a serious disappointment to me as an Apple products owner and tech evangelist. While the fact is that Flash does crash regularly on both my PC and Mac, I'd still like the choice to view Flash-enabled Web sites, considering Hulu has yet to adopt the HTML5/ H.264 video format.)

• Read more about Hybrid Smartphones: Android on iPhone Devices?

Sounds crazy, but a couple of mobile developers have managed to successful port the Google Android mobile OS to iPhone devices. One of them even has a dual-booting system, and should be releasing a version for iPod Touch. The only drawback is that you'd have to do something to your mobile device that Apple says is a no no: jailbreak it. But the experiments developers have been doing on iPhone OS devices, including iPad, just goes to show that Apple is dumbing down the capabilities, but for what purpose, I'm not sure. Why have a device with certain features that most owners will never access? Or is it a way for Apple to test what people might want in the future, since jailbreakers tend to be extremely tech savvy power users, whose activities hint at desirable features?

[Via: The Next Web]

• Read more about Send in the (Apple iPad) Clones

Even if you have no interest in Apple's new iPad tablet computer, you probably can't get away from news about it, so you probably already know that it's pretty hard to get your hands on one, even in the United States. International availability will be done in phases, and it seems the date keeps getting pushed forwards, making a longer wait. But if you're not sold on the iPad, there'll be a number of competitors offering similar devices, and probably fairly quickly.

Currently, no less than Sony, Google, Nokia, RIM and BT (British Telecom), are considering releasing an iPad competitor, according to various online sources. Dell's Streak tablet (5", 7", 10" versions) will be out fairly soon, especially in Europe. HP just bought Palm and seemingly scrapped their Windows 7 tablet project shortly afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if they soon have a tablet with Palm WebOS out in the future. And of course there are a while slew of other companies with tablet devices already out, including Fusion Garage's JooJoo and Aigo's N700.

• Read more about More iPad-Enabled Video Coming

In Apple's latest "What is iPad?" commercial, there's a claim of "all the world's Web sites in your hands." Of course, that's hardly true, despite the big push by some video content providers to switch from Adobe Flash -- which Apple refuses to support on iPhones and iPads, and possibly soon on Macs -- to HTML5's H.264 format, which Apple does support. The fact is, it's not true that you have "all the world's Web sites" on the iPad because I daily get frustrated at all the free TV shows I can't watch on my iPad while lounging on the couch.

So how much video online uses H.264? All Things Digital quotes MeFeedia, a video search engine, who say that H.264 makes up only about 26% of online video content. However, TechCrunch quoted Encoding.com, who claim a figure of 66%, and blinkx, who claim 67%.

Eiteher way, these figures put the lie to Apple's claim, but several TV broadcasters are claiming to be converting their online video content to be iPad-enabled, and other content providers are likely to follow suit. There may only be about a million iPads sold to date, but there mid-double digit millions of iPhones out there, and if a Verizon iPhone does in fact come out, many more millions of iPhones might sell to the increased consumer base. In other words, HTML5/ H.264 video content is a trend that will continue.

• Read more about Next-Gen OS 4 iPhone Promises Many New Features

Aggregating all the little clues that various blogs have gathered about the next Apple iPhone and the iPhone OS 4 suggests that the 4th generation of this smartphone is going to be one powerful mobile device, with lots of new features.

One such feature is the integration of Facebook right into the OS, at least in terms of contact syncing. This is a "fact" that has already been discovered by a few bloggers who discovered the details by digging around in the iPhone 4 SDK. Of course, other competing smartphones, including Palm webOS phones, already offer this. However, Apple might just gain the edge on competitors, thanks to a recently-granted Apple patent for the iPhone that suggests a social version of Mac OS' signature 3d "cover flow" method of browsing a collection of information -- such as documents in a Finder window, or albums or DVDs in iTunes.

A "social cover flow" feature on the iPhone would give users a very nice visual means of quickly flipping through social media (e.g., Facebook) profiles, as the patent diagram below suggests. This alone could make it worth having the new iPhone -- yet to be announced -- at least for all the mobile users of Facebook -- which as many as 100M at last count, not all of whom use an Apple iPhone OS-based device.

Then of course there are the rumors that the new phone will have a front-facing camera (and probably retain the back-facing camera as well), to enable video calling. And Steve Jobs already announced that 3rd-party apps would now have multi-tasking. There's surely many more features we haven't even heard about it.

So the 4th-gen iPhone is going to need a faster processing chip and more RAM memory. The current 128MB for the 3GS model simply won't be enough for all the new capabilities. So it's no surprise that the latest iPhone prototype discovered in the wild is found to have an A4 chip like the iPad and 256MB of RAM. (This is system memory, and separate from the storage capacity, which has been speculated at as high as 128GB for the top end.)

• Read more about It's Not Anti-Competitive if Apple Does It

There's a company out there that aggressively bundles its products to ensure lock-in. They have an end-to-end chain of devices and software crafted to create an impenetrable, closed ecosystem. They aggressively squash competition, even refusing to let competing products exist on their platform. Yeah, it's *Apple*.

I'm getting tired of the geek world being Apple apologists. We don't hold them to the same standards we hold other companies, especially Microsoft. They make cool stuff and that seems to give them a pass to do whatever they want. I say its time to stop being complacent.

I love Apple's stuff. It's pretty, and the operating system lets me do my work better. In fact, I don't really think I could do my job if I didn't run OS X. Windows is a terrible environment for developing Ruby, and Linux doesn't have the Adobe suite of products for the design work I do. That's exactly where the problem lies: I *must* use Apple software to perform my job, which means that I *must* buy Apple hardware to perform my job. Apple has a monopoly over my computer purchases and that doesn't sit well with me.

The reason that Apple hasn't gotten in trouble for their blatant product bundling and other anti-competitive tendencies is simple: they've never had the broad install base to warrant that kind of consideration. But with Apple's meteoric success in the consumer notebook market and an ever-increasing market share, how long can that really stay true? If Apple ever tips the scales at Microsoft-level popularity (or even a substantially smaller but still significant percentage of the market) they should be called to task just as Microsoft was.

OS X is an operating system. It "can be run on other machines":http://www.insanelymac.com/ and would be except that Apple says no. I'm sick of being told what hardware I have to use to use their software, and I'm surprised that everyone else seems to not only be complacent with this fact but revels in the "awesomeness" of Apple. I use Apple because their software is the best (and only) tool for my particular job, not because I feel some bizarre affinity to a consumer products manufacturer.

Maybe some day anti-trust hearings will force Apple to open up and allow any hardware to run OS X. Maybe not. One thing's for sure though, they aren't going to do it unless their hand is forced. Maybe that makes them a successful business, but it doesn't earn them my respect.

• Read more about iPhone 3G Released Today - iHysteria Ensues

Ever since it's announcement at WWDC 2008, most of us have been waiting anxiously to get our hands on the new iPhone 3G. If you haven't been keeping up with the news or have just been in a coma for the past few weeks, you'd know that the second coming of the iPhone was to be released today at Apple and AT&T stores nationwide.

I arrived at the Apple Store at Lenox Mall in Atlanta, GA around five in the morning and ended up being the fifth person in line. Quite surprising, since the Apple Store in New York City had people lining up since last week. After purchasing and activating my new iPhone 3G, I had a chance to play with all of its great new features.

The first thing you'll notice is that the once silver backing has been replaced with a shiny, plastic back. The 8GB iPhone 3G ($199) only comes in black, whereas the 16GB iPhone 3G ($299) comes in either black or white. Surprisingly, the new plastic back, which has a nice curve to it, feels high quality and fits very nicely in your hand. My only gripe though, is that the black color is very prone to smudges and finger prints. Metal has replaced the old plastic volume, power, and silence switch, which also add to a sturdier feel. The recessed-headphone jack is also now no more, allowing you to ditch the clunky adapters that were needed for the first generation iPhone. Also, the chrome bezel around the edges has been pushed back, which gives off the impression that the face is larger, even though the front dimensions are exactly the same as the previous generation.

So, the iPhone 3G is named the way it is for a reason. Finally, you can get 3G speeds on AT&T's HSDPA network, which blows EDGE out of the water. I've gotten accustomed to EDGE speeds over the past year and having pages load up to 2.4x faster is a luxury I don't ever want to live without again. Now I can browse all of my favorite sites without spending so much time waiting for everything to load.

If you had a first generation iPhone, you probably didn't use the speakerphone that much because it was quite worthless. It's now quite loud. The much louder volume of the speakerphone is definitely something that I am very happy about. Now, I can hear my calls loud (very) and clear. Speaking of clarity, many have said that the incoming and outgoing voice quality has been vastly improved. I've noticed a much cleaner, crisper sound while on the phone, but nothing dramatic.

One of the coolest new features is the GPS capability. You now get 'real' GPS, unlike the cellphone tower triangulation that was used in the previous generation iPhone. You don't get voice guided, turn by turn directions out of the box, but it's really neat to see that blue, pulsating dot, smoothly move through the map, showing you exactly where you are. I had a fun time using it on the way back home from the Apple Store. It's also been confirmed that Navigon, will be producing a third-party app, available in the App Store sometime soon, that will provide real turn-by-turn navigation.

Speaking of third party applications, this is really where the new 2.0 firmware shines. The App Store allows you to purchase either paid-for or free applications, right from your new iPhone 3G. There are over 500 different applications already available during launch time. The majority of the applications now are not free, but the average price per application seems to fall between $5 and $10.

Also, anybody can develop these applications with the iPhone SDK. As the developer, you can take advantage of Multi-Touch interface, the accelerometer, GPS, real-time 3D graphics, and 3D positional audio to create some amazing applications. You can also choose to let your product be downloaded for free or you can charge a price. If you decide to charge a price, you agree to pay Apple 30% of the final purchase price. The App Store is proving itself to be a great place for developers to get their products directly to the consumer which an amazing amount of ease.

There are many other great features with the 2.0 firmware that I haven't mentioned, push integration with Exchange and MobileMe, bug fixes, and much more - to list them all, would take quite some time. The iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade from the original iPhone, and if you haven't gotten an iPhone yet, the lowered price and the great new features make it an amazing deal. Look out for some great iPhone applications from us in the future.